Hey, there! Has anyone been watching CreativeLive’s Photoshop Week? If not, all this week, assorted PS gurus are doing workshops for ya at CL. Each one is only a few hours long, as opposed to CL’s usual time frame of 6-8 hours. The week long activities are sponsored by Adobe. There has been segments on actions, content aware and brushes, so far, along with some other beneficial sessions on retouching photos, PS workspaces, etc. Today’s line up looks promising, too. This morning there is one on ‘Advanced Actions’ and another on working non-destructively. They are running two at a time, so, be sure to look up at the very top of CL’s page for the green button that says, “Watch Live 2”. A drop down menu will appear with the two that are currently running. Click on the one you like to see and watch away! They also do re-broadcasts in the evenings if you happen to miss one you like. You can also purchase the courses so you can watch them whenever you want. When you purchase, you also get any related course material with it, such as files that allow you to work along with the video/class. On the PS Week feature page there is a schedule of the courses so you can map out which ones you like. Do realize that CL is in the PST time zone and adjust your schedule accordingly.

Digital Whisper has re-opened! My old haunt is back and going full speed ahead! DW is a Ning group site with all kinds of good things! There are individual groups, plenty of challenges and, so much support and help. The art some of these folks create is stunning! I am so honored to be exposed to their personal styles and tips/advice. I run the “Learning Center” and the “Photo-Manipulation” groups, myself. I’m not that much an authority, but, we manage! LOL There is a small fee for new members, if you are interested. (Ning charges now, so, the fee is to offset costs.) The role of the group is to give aspiring artists feedback and support in ways that are beneficial. It’s also a place to hone your digi skills. They are a wonderful bunch! DW is where I learned a good deal of what I do. If we don’t know, we find out!

I have yet another goody for you from “A Rose is a Rose”. You have the whole kit. I had forgotten a couple of items, so, I want to give you those here. The other day, I gave you the cherub frame, and today, another frame:

And, some lips:

and, last, but, not least, a word art cluster I played around with:

BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE IMAGE AND SAVE AS A .PNG! While I do host these, they aren’t zipped. They should open a new page. M’kay?

Greetings! This morning there was just the slightest tinge of fall in the air when I awoke. I love it when it is cool out. When it’s hot, it is so hard to cool off. But, when it’s cold, you can bundle up and keep warm by a fire or under lots of blankets. My favorite thing – cozy! LOL

Last week was definitely not up there among stellar weeks! LOL I’m behind again, or should I say, ‘still’! Both time-wise and financially! LOL Quite frankly, my nerves are just plain shot! Things are real crazy! So, if ya’ll don’t mind, I’m just gonna post the final parts to this month’s freebie, CU 001. I hope you have enjoyed this one and can use the goodies we’ve made!

Good Monday, All! It’s a little later that I am posting today. I had a hard time getting going this morning! My grandchildren cam and got in bed with me at 5:00 this morning. The older one, laid down and snoozed. Not the little girl! If that child is awake – everyone is! LOL So, after they left for school, granny went back and laid down for a bit!

Let’s get straight down to the freebie! This week you get another two parts to our first CU(Commercial Use) freebies. We have decided to do the CU every 3 months or so. We both enjoyed the creative process and had fun with making this month’s goodies.

As usual, click on my links below for Parts 3 and 4, then, click on Miss Edna’s preview to go to her blog to download her two parts. Miss Edna is an early poster, so, hers is always up before mine, but, if you haven’t been there yet, be sure to go!

Last week, we gave out two parts each, which are still available. This week, two more, then, next week, the final two parts. That’s two parts each so, you end up with twelve(12) parts by the time you collect them all!

It’s done! From now on, all my downloads will be direct downloads! Yay! I shouldn’t have to host my files on Minus anymore, though, of all the hosting sites, they were awesome! I learned how to use the FTP and put the files in to my site’s files for direct download. Thanks to my friend, J. and the folks at Hosting Bonanza! All files are ‘on site’! Woo-hoo! I hope to, eventually, move the bulk of my goodies in to my own site, so, I don’t have to rely on the hosting sites anymore. Then, I won’t have to put up with the scams (see last post), pop-ups, and constant waiting that come with some of those sites! Yay!

If you are in to digital scrapbooking, there is an entire community of scrappers online. There are hundreds of shops, forums and articles, with tips and tutorials, that make up one huge community. Everything I have learned in scrapping, I learned from other scrappers, either by asking, reading posts, or from tutorials. This is probably the case with many of my fellow scrappers. You seek out and find a site, possibly with a forum and a good group of folks, with fun challenges and helpful members, and you’re set! Everyone seems to find their niche quite easily as the members are a friendly bunch. That’s what I have noticed about scrapbooking. Everyone is so helpful and friendly!

I will venture a guess and say that over half, at least, the scrappers use Photoshop. Learning PS is the biggest hurdle! So, along with learning digi-scrapping, you must learn how to use Photoshop, or some other editing program. It is in trying to learn PS that I have discovered another huge community of folks – the PS design blogs/sites. These are the sites where you can read anything at all on the topic of using Photoshop. You can find a plethora of presets: textures, patterns, brushes, actions, you name it! If it works in PS, it is offered! Additionally, there are scads of tutorials that are there to teach old and new techniques and offer inspiration. Some sites have Premium areas where members have access to certain tutorials and PS goodies for a minimal fee. Most are under 10 dollars a month, with even better deals for 6 or 12 month memberships. Several of the larger sites are a part of a network of related sites, all included under one membership and all geared to help you with design! But, the bulk of these sites are there for your perusal of free goodies. I sign up for the RSS feed on most of them and have their frequent updates and newsletters sent right to my inbox so I don’t miss a thing. Over time, I have learned which ones are better than others and have adjusted my e-mail intake accordingly.

I bring all this up as the scrapbooking community, as huge at it is, is not the end all of obtaining resources and learning Photoshop. While these PS design blogs/sites may not have blinkies to collect and display on our blogs, and they may not have the challenges and communal events so popular in scrapping sites, they offer some serious PS help! Over the past 4 years, I have learned a great deal from subscribing to these design sites. I’ve also learned which ones are preferable. I want to share with you all what I have found. I promise you won’t be disappointed in any of them!

I want to note that some of these sites have ‘vectors’, either in their name or as a feature. DO NOT ignore these sites! Vectors work in PS! If you don’t know this, you do now. Look at the file format – .ai (Adobe Illustrator). Adobe is the key word here. But, .eps (Encapsulated Post Script) files open in PS, too. Try to open either one in PS and see for yourself. There is a box that pops up that will guide you through opening the image. As PS is a raster program, the .ai and .eps files will be converted into rasters once opened. To maintain the ‘vector’ status, though, they must be opened in Illustrator or another vector program.

Ready? Alrighty! In no particular order:

WebTreats – This site is well-known for their wonderful patterns with liberal terms. But, they do offer other PS presets, such as brushes, textures, shapes, styles, etc. I know you’ve seen these around the web!

Image Linked to Item

PSDFanExtra –This is a large network of sites offering all kinds of presets, for free, as well as their Premium section’s offerings. They feature a weekly set of textures that I always love! Here’s a set of mixed textures from a recent offering:

Image Linked to Item

I tend to fancy this site as the folks there are wonderful help! On their BlogsFanExtra site, you can ask for and receive a redesign of your blog – free. Tom will evaluate your current blog/site and make recommendations. He includes a .PSD file of his recommended suggestions. He did my previous blog and I took his advice, carrying over to this blog, his ideas and suggestions. My content is what I want featured, not necessarily other scrappers blogs. He’s evaluated some popular sites since it’s inception.

PSDTuts – This site is also a part of a large network with a Premium section. They’re very well known for thier tutorials and their ‘mini-courses’ in all sort of Photoshop training. Their Basix series, featured by Martin Perhiniak, is wonderful for a beginner learning PS.

Image Linked to Item

They also offer many free resources such as the previously mentioned presets.

PSDDude – This site has some of the coolest offerings, in my opinion. As they don’t have a Premium section, that I know of, all of their offerings are free. Just in the past week, I have obtained an action that gives paper a folded look

Image Linked to Item

and a set of styles that create both Letterpress and embossed effects for your designs.

Image Linked to Item

CreativeNerds – Another good site, featuring similar free resources and tutorials. They often feature goodies from other sites that one might miss if they didn’t. They have a really good Premium section and, get this, their membership is $15.99 for A YEAR!

Their most recent free offering:

Image Linked to Item

VectorPatterns – Don’t let the name mislead you! These folks come out with the most awesome free patterns! I think I have downloaded all of them! Their latest offering:

Image Linked to Item

Each download comes with a scalable vector and a PS .PAT file. They have some cute designs, perfect for scrapbooking!

Fuzzimo – I saved the best for last! This site seems to cater to the needs of us scrappers. They offer some fantastic freebies, many of which I have used, myself, and have seen others use.

Image Linked to Item

Image Linked to Item

Image Linked to Item

Obviously, there are a gazillion more web sites, many that are similar to these. And, there are even more design sites that aren’t strictly PS sites. Many are specializing in web design, or, in a particular aspect of PS and/or design. For that, many of their resources work for scrapbooking. I only mention these few sites as I find they are tops in providing goodies that scrappers might be able to use. While I absolutely love the scrapbooking community, I only want to suggest that there are other communities of resource providers and folks who are eager and willing to help available. Hey, the scrapbooking community has some fantastic designers, but, sometimes, free is what we need. A good deal of these sites have liberal terms, as well! I hope you have found something among these sites I’ve listed! That would make me